Karl Popper Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• All life is problem solving

  Karl Popper

  Inspiring, Inspire, Problem

  Karl Popper (2013). “All Life is Problem Solving”, p.99, Routledge

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• A theory which is not refutable by any conceivable event is non-scientific. Irrefutability is not a virtue of a theory (as people often think) but a vice.

  Karl Popper

  Thinking, People, Vices

  Karl Popper (2014). “Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge”, p.48, Routledge

  112 Copy quote

• We have the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should tolerate even them whenever we can do so without running a great risk; but the risk may become so great that we cannot allow ourselves the luxury.

  Karl Popper

  Running, Luxury, Risk

  51 Copy quote

• It is part of my thesis that all our knowledge grows only through the correcting of our mistakes.

  Karl Popper

  Truth, Mistake, Knowledge

  Karl Popper (2014). “Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge”, p.15, Routledge

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• It is not his possession of knowledge, of irrefutable truth, that makes the man of science, but his persistent and recklessly critical quest for truth.

  Karl Popper

  Knowledge, Science, Men

  The Logic of Scientific Discovery Ch. 10

  41 Copy quote

• The difference between the amoeba and Einstein is that, although both make use of the method of trial and error elimination, the amoeba dislikes erring while Einstein is intrigued by it.

  Karl Popper

  Science, Errors, Differences

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• Our knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite.

  Karl Popper

  Learning, Ignorance, Knowledge

  Lecture to British Academy, 20 Jan. 1960, in Proceedings of the British Academy (1960) vol. 46, p. 69

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• The war of ideas is a Greek invention. It is one of the most important inventions ever made. Indeed, the possibility of fighting with with words and ideas instead of fighting with swords is the very basis of our civilization, and especially of all its legal and parliamentary institutions.

  Karl Popper

  War, Fighting, Civilization

  Karl Popper (2014). “Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge”, p.501, Routledge

  117 Copy quote

• I personally call the type of government which can be removed without violence 'democracy,' and the other, 'tyranny.'.

  Karl Popper

  Freedom, Government, Democracy

  Karl Raimund Popper (2002). “Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge”, p.464, Psychology Press

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• A theory that explains everything, explains nothing

  Karl Popper

  Theory

  15 Copy quote

• It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood.

  Karl Popper

  Communication, Misunderstood, Way

  Karl Popper (2005). “Unended Quest: An Intellectual Autobiography”, p.29, Routledge

  27 Copy quote

• We do not know anything - this is the first. Therefore, we should be very modest - this is the second. Not to claim that we do know when we do not - this is the third. That's the kind of attitude I'd like to popularize. There is little hope for success.

  Karl Popper

  Attitude, Littles, Firsts

  13 Copy quote

• Evolution is not a fact. Evolution doesn't even qualify as a theory or as a hypothesis. It is a metaphysical research program, and it is not really testable science.

  Karl Popper

  Research, Facts, Evolution

  "Unended Quest: An Intellectual Autobiography". Book by Karl Popper, 1976.

  62 Copy quote

• It is not possible to write clearly enough to avoid being misrepresented by people who are sufficiently determined to do so.

  Karl Popper

  Writing, People, Determined

  36 Copy quote

• It is wrong to ask who will rule. The ability to vote a bad government out of office is enough. That is democracy.

  Karl Popper

  Freedom, Government, Office

  19 Copy quote

• If we wish our civilization to survive we must break with the habit of deference to great men.

  Karl Popper

  Men, Civilization, Wish

  Karl Popper (2012). “The Open Society and its Enemies”, p.33, Routledge

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• The attempt to make heaven on earth invariably produces hell.

  Karl Popper

  Heaven, Earth, Hell

  Karl Popper (2005). “The Open Society and its Enemies: Hegel and Marx”, p.252, Routledge

  76 Copy quote

• . . . it seems to me certain that more people are killed out of righteous stupidity than out of wickedness.

  Karl Popper

  People, Stupidity, Wickedness

  Karl Popper (2014). “Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge”, p.575, Routledge

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• I may be wrong and you may be right, and by an effort, we may get nearer to the truth

  Karl Popper

  Effort, May, Rationalism

  Karl Popper (2012). “The Open Society and its Enemies”, p.510, Routledge

  93 Copy quote

• All things living are in search of a better world .

  Karl Popper

  World, All Things

  Karl Popper (2012). “In Search of a Better World: Lectures and Essays from Thirty Years”, p.7, Routledge

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• When we enter a new situation in life and are confronted by a new person, we bring with us the prejudices of the past and our previous experiences of people. These prejudices we project upon the new person. Indeed, getting to know a person is largely a matter of withdrawing projections; of dispelling the smoke screen of what we imagine he is like and replacing it with the reality of what he is actually like.

  Karl Popper

  Past, Reality, Situations In Life

  99 Copy quote

• Instead of encouraging the student to devote himself to his studies for the sake of studying, instead of encouraging in him a real love for his subject and for inquiry, he is encouraged to study for the sake of his personal career; he is led to acquire only such knowledge as is serviceable in getting him over the hurdles which he must clear for the sake of his advancement.

  Karl Popper

  Education, Real, Careers

  Karl R. Popper (2013). “The Open Society and Its Enemies”, p.128, Princeton University Press

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• Whenever we propose a solution to a problem, we ought to try as hard as we can to overthrow our solution, rather than defend it.

  Karl Popper

  Trying, Problem, Propose

  Karl Popper (2005). “The Logic of Scientific Discovery”, p.19, Routledge

  26 Copy quote

• Astrologers were greatly impressed, and misled, by what they believed to be confirming evidence-so much so that they were quite unimpressed by any unfavorable evidence. Moreover, by making their interpretations and prophecies sufficiently vague they were able to explain away anything that might have been a refutation of the theory had the theory and the prophecies been more precise. In order to escape falsification they destroyed the testability of their theory. It is a typical soothsayer's trick to predict things so vaguely that the predictions can hardly fail: that they become irrefutable.

  Karl Popper

  Order, Typical, Might

  55 Copy quote

• We must plan for freedom, and not only for security, if for no other reason than only freedom can make security more secure.

  Karl Popper

  Freedom, Ethics, Reason

  The Open Society and its Enemies (1945) vol. 2, ch. 21

  11 Copy quote

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